PRINCIPALES IDEAS

 Approximately almost 90% of Puerto Principe is made up of residential

homes where, two-thirds of these buildings, are of all economic classes,
are single-story single-family homes built in a homogeneous manner
with reinforced concrete frame elements with non-reinforced masonry
 The predominant type of structure seen in Haiti is a low-rise,
unengineered building, built with unreinforced masonry walls framed by
slender concrete columns
 Traditional filled frame systems lack a link between masonry walls and
frame elements. These systems worked poorly in the earthquake and
explain most of the structural collapses.
 In the past, beach sand was regularly used in concrete mixtures, which
generates corrosion in the steel, for this reason, most of the buildings
subject to the January 2010 earthquake had been constructed with
beach sand. Among other reasons, the corroded reinforcement
contributed to structural failures due to the loss of reinforcement
tension capacity.
 Using a smaller amount of cement for a larger amount of limestone
called 'La boule', generated mixtures that have a lower compressive
strength than rock, which translates into a reduction in the overall
compressive strength of typical concrete at Haiti.
 The concrete in Haiti was pushed directly to the formwork or block mold
without vibrations or consolidation efforts, for that reason the air voids
were not eliminated.
 Eight concrete blocks were taken in situ and tested in compression. The
average maximum resistance was 1,638 psi with a standard deviation of
365 psi. The typical strength of a concrete block in the United States is
1,900 psi.
 Certain tests that were done on steel in Haiti demonstrated that the
structural performance problem is not attributable to the strength of
the available steel reinforcement. In contrast, deformability, insufficient
area relationships, the use of non-deformed bars and poor details were
the main contributors to structural failures in Haiti.
 in the construction methods observed in haiti, it was seen that the
beams lacked continuity of concrete and reinforcement through the
beam-slab interface. This prohibits the development of a standard T-
beam mechanism and, therefore, vertical load transfer.
 No mechanical connection was observed with other structural
elements, such as concrete slabs or columns.
 Construction practices in Haiti are casual and of poor quality. Builders
often use columns and armor of different sizes and constructions
 the real confined masonry construction was not observed in Haiti and,
instead, is known as "first on the wall" construction
 For those structures assembled with a first column technique, the
performance observed during the January 2010 earthquake was poor.
 Insufficient details of the joints of the beam column led to joint damage
and the formation of balancing mechanisms. This progression of
damage and the mode of failure were probably the most common
means of collapse of low-rise and unengineered buildings in Haiti and
were responsible for the majority of deaths.
 Despite the successful performance of the construction of the first wall
in Haiti, poor quality design and craftsmanship are ubiquitous.
 The performance of the houses in Haiti during the earthquake seemed
to be bimodal: they seemed to survive intact with little or no damage,
or were completely destroyed. . Buildings with a moderate level of
damage that indicate energy dissipation or ductility capacity were not
frequently observed.
 Haitians have lacked access to quality materials, knowledge of
appropriate construction techniques and awareness of their seismic
risk. The lack of governance, in the form of building and application
codes, facilitated these causes.
 The constructions with full frame or column first performed poorly
during the January 2010 earthquake. On the contrary, those
constructions for which the walls were assembled before the columns,
reminiscent of the confined masonry, generally performed well.